Thou hadst written that in the sacred books of the followers
of Zoroaster it is written that in the latter days, in three separate
Dispensations, the sun must needs be brought to a standstill. In the first
Dispensation, it is predicted, the sun will remain motionless for ten days; in
the second for twice that time; in the third for no less than one whole month.
The interpretation of this prophecy is this: the first Dispensation to which it
refers is the Muhammadan Dispensation during which the Sun of Truth stood still
for ten days. Each day is reckoned as one century. The Muḥammadan Dispensation
must have, therefore, lasted no less than one thousand years, which is
precisely the period that has elapsed from the setting of the Star of the
Imamate to the advent of the Dispensation proclaimed by the Báb. The second
Dispensation referred to in this prophecy is the one inaugurated by the Báb
Himself, which began in the year 1260 A.H. and was brought to a close in the
year 1280 A.H. As to the third Dispensation—the Revelation proclaimed by
Bahá’u’lláh—inasmuch as the Sun of Truth when attaining that station shineth in
the plenitude of its meridian splendor its duration hath been fixed for a
period of one whole month, which is the maximum time taken by the sun to pass
through a sign of the Zodiac. From this thou canst imagine the magnitude of the
Bahá’í cycle—a cycle that must extend over a period of at least five hundred
thousand years.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (Quoted by Shoghi Effendi in ‘The Dispensation of
Baha’u’llah’)
